TVG Handle Increases 254% From a Year Ago

The start of Hollywood Park’s spring-summer meet combined with the Kentucky Derby, an advertising blitz and increased exposure on cable television has led to a surge in business for the Television Games Network.

Between April 25 and May 4, TVG, which services bettors who prefer to wager over the phone or on-line from home, signed up more than 7,500 new subscribers and handled more than $8 million--a 254% increase from the same time period last year, when account wagering was not legal in California.

Last Saturday, when War Emblem posted his 20-1 surprise in the Kentucky Derby, TVG handled $2.8 million in bets, 200% more than it had a year earlier when Monarchos won the Derby.

“We actually did better than we imagined,” said Mark Wilson, president and chief executive officer of TVG. “We’re happy that our customer service and wagering systems successfully handled the major spike in our business.

“We didn’t get any complaints from our fan base and the average wait time on Derby day to speak to a live operator was about two minutes, and that’s quite good.”

Available regularly only on the DISH Network and Adelphia digital cable systems, TVG has been seen more widely since the beginning of Hollywood Park on Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports Net 2. There are at least two hours of coverage on the cable network each racing day.

“The response has been terrific,” Wilson said. “It’s worked as we hoped it would and it’s been quite a helpful tool for attracting subscribers.”

Since the start of the meet, TVG’s handle on the races from Hollywood Park has been increasing. The lowest handle was $161,158 on April 24, the second day of the meet. But even that was higher than what was bet at all of California’s inter-track sites other than Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos.

On Derby Day, $345,926 was handled on the Hollywood Park races, compared to $24,761 a year ago. The average through the first nine days of the meet was a little more than $284,000. A year ago, the average during the corresponding period was a little more than $21,000.

“We’re on our way to the best quarter in the short history of this company,” Wilson said. “The numbers illustrate the remarkable growth that TVG is capable of delivering and reflect a number of very positive developments for the company this year.”

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Medaglia d’Oro, fourth in the Kentucky Derby, will have a new rider in the Preakness on May 18.

Jerry Bailey, the nation’s leading jockey, will take over for Laffit Pincay Jr. in the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico.

An upset winner of the San Felipe Stakes in his first start for trainer Bobby Frankel and owner Ed Gann, Medaglia d’Oro was second in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct last month, then broke slowly and had traffic trouble in the 18-horse Derby five days ago. At the wire, he was really the only horse showing some late interest as he checked in eight lengths behind wire-to-wire winner War Emblem.

A year ago, Bailey replaced Victor Espinoza on Congaree in the Preakness after the colt finished third in the Kentucky Derby. Congaree again finished third in the Preakness, beaten by stablemate Point Given and A P Valentine.

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Danthebluegrassman, a surprise entrant then a late scratch from the Kentucky Derby, won’t be running in the $500,000 Lone Star Derby on Saturday at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Scratched from the Derby because of muscle cramps, Danthebluegrassman apparently hasn’t recovered to the satisfaction of trainer Bob Baffert, so he will not run in the Grade III, which is expected to have a large field.

Owned by Mike Pegram, Danthebluegrassman has won three of eight. In his most recent race, he was last at nearly 13-1 in the Santa Anita Derby.